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File 74/1915 Pt 4 'Mesopotamia: Imperial Ottoman Bank, Baghdad Branch' [‎229r] (171/422)

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The record is made up of 1 item (210 folios). It was created in 25 Mar 1917-3 Feb 1921. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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1.
26,Throgmorton Street, e.c. 2.
Conficfntlal
Mar Sir
Referring to ay letter of the 31et ultimo, one of
js
Vni
the diffloultiee referred te le the following
^Doee it net ooour to the Political Officer that if an
"Rstahliehaent adopted the system of repaying deposits (made in
"Turkish Currency Notes) at the rate ruling for that Turkish
"Currency at the date of deposit a dangerous precedent might be
"created and taken adrantage of in other towns.
"The effect of such a precedure might he to do exactly
"what the Political wishes to avoid, namely, to give an
t
"enhanced value to Turkish Currency Rotes that are being held.
"2f such a precedent is created, the effect might be to
"put up the value of Turkish Currency Rotes in other towns;
"because certain enterprising individuals might think that they
"could then pay them in to establishments in these ether towns
"and that whatever might happen get out eventually the counter-
"part at the exchange ruling at the date on which they paid
"them in.
"Therefore, these enterprising individuals might seek te
"buy up Turkish Currency Rotes, we will say in Uesopotaiaia,
"have them sent to some tther town not occupied by the Allies,
"cause the rate to go up, fluid pay them in to some Bstabliehiaent

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This part contains correspondence and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Minute Papers relating to the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Mesopotamia [Iraq], mainly concerning the Baghdad branch.

It includes papers regarding:

  • The decision of the British Government, on the recommendation of local British political authorities, to close the Baghdad branch of the Imperial Ottoman Bank for the duration of the First World War, on the grounds that the Bank was identified with enemy interests, and it continued to do enemy business up to the date of the British occupation of Baghdad, and was recognised by the Turkish authorities as a Government bank.
  • The proposal of the London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of the Bank to send their representative Mr Critchley to Baghdad to enquire into the interests of the Bank’s shareholders and clients in Mesopotamia, and their later proposal to send Mr H R Saltmarsh and Mr E E Humphries instead of Critchley.
  • The proposal of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, that the Baghdad branch of the Bank should be allowed to re-open.
  • Permission being granted to the Imperial Ottoman Bank at Basra to correspond with its Constantinople [Istanbul] Office.
  • The visit of Lord Goschen, a director of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, to Mesopotamia.
  • A query by Drysdale and Company Limited about whether the Imperial Ottoman Bank at Baghdad was ‘a safe and sound’ institution, in response to a customer asking the company to accept payment at the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Baghdadthe proposal that the Baghdad and Mosul branches of Bank should be permitted to settle transactions dating back to the period before the British occupation.

The correspondence largely consists of correspondence between the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and the following: the Foreign Office; Sir William Plender, appointed by the Treasury as Supervisor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank’s London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ; the Imperial Ottoman Bank, London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ; the Viceroy of India, Foreign Department; and the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad (telegrams addressed from ‘Political, Baghdad’). The file also includes copies of Foreign Office correspondence with the London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, and Sir Reginald Wingate, High Commissioner, Egypt.

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1 item (210 folios)
Written in
English in Latin script
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File 74/1915 Pt 4 'Mesopotamia: Imperial Ottoman Bank, Baghdad Branch' [‎229r] (171/422), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/531/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048952595.0x000045> [accessed 4 August 2026]

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